1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing technique that modifies a difference in color between image data constituted by a color space for printing and a display image on a monitor in a simple fashion when printing the image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, image data constituted by an RGB color space or a CMYK color space has been typically handled by electrophotographic printers, inkjet printers, and the like. Image data constituted by an RGB color space (hereinafter referred to as “RGB data”) is normally used as office document, photographic images, and the like in many applications. Thus, upon printing RGB data, it is often required that RGB data is produced with a color reproduction close to the color impression of a display image on a monitor. On the other hand, image data based on the assumption that the image data is output from a printer, such as image data for commercial purposes, is often image data constituted by a CMYK color space (hereinafter referred to as “CMYK data”). PDL data submitted in a page description language (PDL) represented by Adobe Systems' PostScript (registered trademark) or the like is often image data constituted by a standardized CMYK color space based on the assumption that the PDL data is output from a predetermined printer.
In recent years, there has been an increasing opportunity of handling CMYK data on an application due to the enhanced function of the application. However, upon printing image data, the user may be unaware of the fact that image data is CMYK data (e.g., when a person who created image data is different from a person who prints it). For example, assume the case where the user prints image data with the same color as that of a display image on a monitor. When CMYK data is printed by a printer compatible with PostScript (registered trademark), CMYK data may be printed in a different color from that of a display image on a monitor. This is because CMYK data described in PostScript (registered trademark) is transmitted to a printer as it is without performing color space conversion assumed to be displayed on a monitor. Thus, there is a technique for analyzing a color space relating to image data upon printing and informing the user of the result of analysis in advance (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-090423).
In the conventional technique, even when the user can recognize the possibility that the color of image data may be different from that of a display image on a monitor prior to printing, the user needs to modify image data using a specific application in order to modify the color thereof. Since such modification requires some knowledge or technique, a typical user cannot readily modify the color of image data when the user is aware of the fact that the color of image data is different from that of a display image on a monitor.